16 Days of Activism

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (16 Days) is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates November 25th (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) and December 10th (International Human Rights Day) in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights, and to emphasize such violence is a violation of human rights.

According to Wikipedia, the “premise of the day is to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence; furthermore, one of the aims of the day is to highlight that the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden. For 2014, the official Theme framed by the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women, is Orange Your Neighborhood.

The Metro NY chapter takes part every year by participating in a Nationally-led social media campaign, in addition to hosting an event. In November of 2014, the Young Professionals, together with the YPs from YWCA Brooklyn, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for domestic violence survivors.